Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. --- Mark Twain

Monday, May 20, 2013

Technical, cardan, Part 3

Day 821,
91,274 km since the beginning of the journey
Pichilemu, Chile.

So back in Pichilemu. And completely unscheduled.

Now in the morning at the workshop we began to look for the causes of leakage. Actually not even look for as the oily hose was seen from far already.
There is a small hole in the oil hose. Very small, but still big enough for the oil to seep out and soil everything around. The positive side of the issue is that the oily surface will not rust, but really oil should not come out from anywhere. And there is no spare hose on the shelf.

After an hour a new hose is brought, a little shorter but never mind. Now anything should not drip out any more.
Next the cardan will be taken off as there are traces of fresh oil here too .The welded place is not air-tight.

Another picture of the welded spot before repairs.

At work

The crosskit is fixed and nothing should leak through any more. The cardan is laid back and this work will be under warranty. It seems that now everything should be fine, and logically nothing should drip out any more. Stressing the words "should not".

I'm going back to the overnight place. I stop the car and look under the car again. "Trust, but check", says the proverb. So - everything should be inspected after a few kilometres of driving.

This means that, in fact, I do not trust. On the protection of the bottom of the car there is a very fresh oil patch. Having appeared about 5 minutes ago.

Quickly take a foggy picture and then immediately back to the service. This bottom protection is really good at revealing at once if anything is leaking out.

The oily cylinder of the clutch on a large scale. And the reason is not the leaking oil hose as I was told before.

As there is a new slave cylinder on the shelf at a reasonable price (8500 pesos, ie approx 14 EUR), then it will be bought and fixed.

Flash Forward - 24 hours later this place is dry.

Because of the place between the gearbox and the engine being slightly oily, the idea is to take off the gearbox in order to find out the cause of the leaking.
In short, they agreed to do it and I had got the seal myself (an original from Estonia). And more importantly, I can attend all the process myself.

While lifting the bus up it turned out that the roof of the workshop is too low.

Oil out from the gear box.

An hour later all the bolts are loose and the gear box is taken down.

This time the part on the engine's side is dry, the last seal has been able to withstand. This is a good indicator. In the meantime I even had dreams about simmers.
The clutch is also ok at the first sight, and the end-bearing seems to be in order

But the part of the gearbox is oily.

A new gasket. Not much left from the previous one and probably that`s the place where the oil leaked out from.

At the same time in front of the workshop. The bottom protection will be cleaned by pressure washing.

Using some silicone.

The cover is fixed.

And the bearing is fixed as well.

And the gearbox pillow needs replacing too. In my opinion. But as either a new one could not be found in town and or a used one – then it will be as it is now. Probably a new should be purchased in Santiago. The present one might last about 2,000 kilometres or a little more, but no need to test, ie, there is no need to drive until it gets broken. .
Another hour and everything is a whole again, nothing visible is left over.

It is seven, and already dark outside. I'm driving out of the workshop, and while reaching the camp a new surprise is waiting ahead.
The gate that had been wide open all the time is now locked. Fortunately, there is a telephone number on a note and in the morning I took a picture of the note on the door of the reception

Further on – all the attempts - having tried unsuccessfully to contact the right people and then to find another overnight place of reasonable price - failed, and so nothing else to do but to return to the gate of “La Puntilla “.

While driving about in town - now and then the red light of the oil sensor occasionally lit up.
So in the morning it is necessary to return to the service again hoping that they are at work on Saturday.
The morning was lightly rainy and from the front window – the million view at the Pacific Ocean.

At the workshop the men were present and after checking the oil level and a short wait I drove on the channel again. In a few minutes the thing was clear, the flicker was caused by the sensor cable, and soon it was said that now everything is ok.